Fort Wayne Police hunt for armed suspects in 2 robberies

Fort Wayne Police were hunting Friday for suspects in two separate armed robberies over the past 24 hours – each involving a pair of men armed with handguns.

Police responded to the first robbery at about 8:40 a.m. Thursday at the Midwest Federal Credit Union branch at 1021 Swinney Ave., where employees told officers that two men with handguns approached them as they arrived for work and forced them inside, said department spokesman Officer John Chambers.

The men, whom workers described as wearing dark hooded sweatshirts and black masks, demanded cash before fleeing from the scene in an unknown direction, Chambers said in a statement.

Just after 8 a.m. Friday, police responded to another armed robbery, this time at a Chase Bank branch, according to scanner traffic. The exact location could not immediately be determined.

As with the robbery Thursday, the suspects apparently approached bank workers before business hours, and police indicated someone may have been hit over the head with a pistol. Dispatchers described the suspects as a pair of thin men wearing black “hoodies” and masks.

According to dispatchers, about 15 police units had responded to the second robbery by 8:30 a.m., with police beginning to canvass the neighborhood.

It was unclear whether police suspected the same pair of men in each robbery. Chambers did not immediately return a call to his pager.

In the first robbery, police offered a $2,000 reward for anyone with information that led to the arrests of the suspects. Authorities requested that anyone with information call city police at 427-1222 or the local FBI office at 426-5331.